Does a weekend in Paris warrant scratching off all of France? Is it enough to have visited Disneyland to reveal all of the US? Can you scratch off Egypt if you’ve just spent two weeks on the beaches of Sharm el Sheikh or do you need to see the Pyramids of Giza and the ancient temples of Luxor as well?
Everyone I’ve discussed this with has their own opinion. One felt that having the passport stamp alone was enough, another thought they had to at least leave the airport and someone else said they would need to eat a meal in a local restaurant. I don’t think you can say you’ve visited the United Arab Emirates because you have changed planes in Dubai en route to the Far East; but having lived in Peru for six months and been back three times since, there are still places I want to see so have I been there enough either?
Can you ever measure the amount of a country you have seen, or is it just down to the experience you have had there? And, as travellers, why does it matter to us so much to say that we’ve been there and done that?
The Travelers’ Century Club is an organisation set up for travellers who can prove they have visited more than 100 countries. These criteria may seem straightforward enough but what in fact constitutes proof, and what even constitutes a country?
The United Nations says the world has 192 countries as it recognises 192 member states. But what about Kosovo and the Vatican City? Don’t these count too? The Travelers’ Century Club by contrast lists 320 countries, but admits these aren’t all countries – some are off-shoots of parents or ethnological regions.
American millionaire Charles Veley not only claims to be the world’s most travelled man, he is also founder of the Most Traveled People Club: 10,000 competitive travellers, who stipulate that a claim to have visited a country can only be verified if accompanied by a photograph, passport stamp and a receipt. Club members have voted to recognise 872 countries, including islands, regions and major provinces.
On reflection, the debate is really about what kind of traveller we each are. The person who lies on their sunlounger in Sharm has a different experience of Egypt to the couple cruising down the Nile. Each will have photographs and passport stamps and may have eaten a local meal. But can you capture a country in a photograph, or is a visit to a country more about a particular memory or unexpected adventure?
As Mr Veley says, with his current score of 819 countries, “It’s not enough to visit New York and say you’ve been to the United States.
